It isn't so much they're hard to collect, but the ends of collecting more than 20 doesn't justify the means. Up to 20 is most definitely worth it, but after that, IMO, it isn't.

Yeah, if money weren't so stupidly abundant, or at least the game were harder it'd make it worthwhile. As is, it's kinda pointless to me.

Oh, as for the other stuff:

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I will admit, I suspected it'd be easier on the GC over the Wii. Pressing R to sheidl bash (I'm assuming) is better than slamming it forward, and either it not registering or it thinking you did a spin attack instead, so you get screwed over. 'course, you could've used a different strategy too than I.

For me, all the controls were easier on the Wii. They were faster overall, and aiming was perfect. Nothing I did ever ended up doing the wrong thing (a spin attack was always a spin attack, and I never did one I didn't want to- plus, the spin itself is infinitely more useful on the Wii).

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I might have to go back and play through that dungeon if it actually does offer a challenge.

My only complaint with the latest few Zelda games is that they're so incredibly easy; in Wind Waker, the only extra hearts I had were the ones from dungeon bosses. I still never died; never came close. In TP, I did have all the heart pieces (they seemed a whole lot easier to find in this, maybe because there were so many), but still never died. I don't mean a game over; I mean I never had to use a fairy in reserve or anything. The combat is almost laughably easy. The puzzles, on the other hand, can get pretty twisted... but I still wish there were more, or that what was there would be harder.

Normally I don't screw up and do one or the other instead when it comes to the shield bash and the spin attack. Hell, those few mixups are more than evened out by the fact that, yes, it is so much more useful than ever before on the Wii; might've been so on the N64 to GC had it been a bit less picky with a stick spin, but ah well. However, those incidents were stupidly tough, and it got bad enough that I fumbled the nunchuk (like throwing a Wii remote, but more silly than destructive). I think they just needed the split second responses that only a controller can provide. Outside of spin attacks, of course.

I finally got a copy of Guitar Hero 2 and this game is going to own me for at least a week. I managed to beat it on medium last night and just barely got through "Freebird". I took it over to a friends house last night and we basically just had some drinks and played for a good 3 hours straight. Excellent game.

Man, I'm surprised at how enjoyable Xenosaga III is. I don't remember a goddamn thing about the plot of the first two (or even some of these characters....), but the gameplay itself is great. If only the others had possessed this good of a balance between story and gameplay. I just nabbed KOS-MOS.

It took me forever to get the hang of Valkyrie Profile 2's battle system. I think I've got it licked now though. I just got Lezard and am heading to Coriander.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is shaping up to be my favorite hand-held CV. It's such a brand-new experience compared to Dawn of Sorrow that I almost find it hard to believe. I hope we never see hide nor hair of Soma ever again. :P

If you DO want to refresh your memory on XS1 or 2 (though I half imagine you might just care about the gameplay at this point), check the data section at the title screen, you can get summaries of the first two with some pictures there.

I dabbled in my Christmas gifts all around - the games I put the most into though were Elite Beat Agents, Final Fantasy III, and Bully. FFIII probably beats out EBA, but you can't really compare with no clock unless you remember how many stages you've done, and probably more importantly how many retries you've had. Also, Bully's simultanously more and less familiar than I thought. The overall control and the very basic gameplay is exactly the same as GTA, but the feel, and the changes like making days genuinely matter and not simply nice enviromental changes really set it apart. I could see this being my fave of the GTA-type games, unless I play Steambot later and it trumps this. Hell, I'm just glad it's not the same thug-centered crap that the GTAs and their countless clones followed. :P

^ My friend and I used to walk over to EBGames and play the Guitar Hero II they had set up for hours. Good times.

But, I've been kicking Resistance: Fall of Man's ass for the last two days. I'm now in London. I used to really suck at FPS's, now I think I'm pretty good at it. Unfortunately, my PS3 can't stay on the internet for more than 15 seconds before being "disconnected from the access point", so I haven't even been able to create an online profile without being knocked off. Stupid WiFi.

Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin: Christ, this game is long. Here I was, thinking that things were on the verge of wrapping up, when I walked into a room that had five fucking paintings in it. That's more than double the number found throughout the rest of the castle. They seem to be alternate versions of the other stages though, so it shouldn't take too long to power through. Which is good, because my patience has all but vanished upon getting wasted a dozen times trying to power up the whip. :P

Xenosaga III - I'm at the part where everyone rambles on about plot points I almost remember from four years ago.

Valkyrie Profile 2: Jesus, maybe I should have waited on those optional dungeons. Some of those enemies in the forest and mines had me pulling my damn hair out. When I moved on to that aqueduct or whatever, things were much simpler. It was good to see that my theory on Rufus was dead on, as if it weren't completely obvious to anyone who had played the original. Maybe my other theory

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(Leone = Hrist)

will turn out to be true too and prove the awesomeness of my deductive reasoning skills. :P

Finished Final Fantasy IX at about 43 hours. I still have a lot of sidequests to do so I might work on those before I set the game down for good.

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Trance Kuja and Necron were fucking brutal. The former cast Flare Star twice each turn before any of my characters could even do anything. After about four or five tries I won with a pretty fortunate stroke of luck; Steiner was the only one alive with about 300 HP at the end of the battle with Trance, and Kuja decided to cast Reflect instead of Flare Star.

Ironically Necron cast some status effect on Steiner towards the beginning of the battle that negated the effects of Life and Pheonix Down so I struggled through the battle with only Eiko, Zidane and Vivi. I was lucky enough to get Vivi tranced at just the right time though, probably for the second time in the entire game.

As for that ending... talk about cheesy. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff though, so I enjoyed it.

As for the game as a whole, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I definitely liked the overall atmosphere of it the most out of any Playstation Final Fantasy.

PSU (Story Mode) - I'm in episode 7 I think. Anyways I gained the ability to change my clothes. Praise the Lord! Ethan's original outfit bugged the hell out of me. The whole peek-a-boo midriff showing is not sexy or masculine. It's annoying. I now have him in a blue outfit that looks like a bicycling outfit. Sure the top looks like spandex but at least he's covered!

I've been playing FFXII pretty slowly as of late, but that's probably due to the fact that I can't seem to do anything other than attempt the final area. For those of you that have beaten it, is it really a "point of no return," or is the game just pulling my leg?

Anway, I also started up FFIII. Brings me back to the days of DQVIII, which isn't a good thing, since I fucking hate not having save points. I've actually had a pretty unlucky run through, so far. I've died at least three times mid-dungeon, once on the world map, and once on a boss. I've also lost a Quicksave by accidently choosing New Game from the title screen.That wasn't all that fun.

Other than that, it's pretty good. The gameplay is weirding me out though. It's so unpredictable. I mean, why is my thief doing more damage than my warrior? :P